Safety devices for protecting vehicle occupants in the event of side impact through the use of airbags are known. Thus from German Patent 43 07 421 A1 a safety device is known where an airbag is mounted between the hip of a person sitting on a vehicle seat and the door of the vehicle. The inflation device and the airbag are fixed on the vehicle seat so that the position of the airbag in relation to the occupant is not changed when adjusting the seat. This safety device protects in particular the hip area of the vehicle occupant.
Furthermore from German Patent 43 28 528 A1 a vehicle seat is known to which is connected an airbag-impact-protection unit to protect against a side impact of the vehicle. The inflated airbag of this protection unit lies between the head/neck part of the occupant and the immediate adjoining side structure of the vehicle, i.e. the airbag protects inter alia the upper body and the head of the vehicle occupant.
These devices have the drawback that the inflated airbags with which the vehicle occupant comes into direct contact are loaded by the occupant over a small surface since the vehicle occupant has a small surface in a lateral view.
This drawback can be overcome through a vehicle door which absorbs energy as known from German Patent 40 38 659 A1 . This vehicle door consists of an outer and inner panel which are fixed against each other. Between these is a space for attaching the window lifter and other component parts stored in the door. A door cover panel assembly attached to the inner panel contains a cover panel of a substantially rigid material. Between the inner panel and cover panel is an energy-absorbing crumple element. This element crumples in the event of side impact and thereby absorb the energy which arises. The cover panel has structurally weakened sections, preferably slits whereby the cover panel yields in a foreseen way in the event of side impact. In the event of side impact the vehicle occupant makes contact with the rigid cover panel so that the load of the occupant is spread out over a larger surface area.
The drawback with this vehicle door is that the door is very thick owing to the energy absorbing material additionally required so that the passenger space becomes reduced.